Chefao

I was admiring my 20 year old interior while getting out of the car The leather has worn quite well over the years.

How is everyone else making out with their leather?

SC400slide

iTrader: (11)

Mine has been re-upholstered with italian Hand stitched seams. Stillhave to do the back seat, the front seat was well worth it.

BTW, when I got the car, the drivers side seat was worn out vinyl, (made out to be faux leather), and the passengers side was ripped up good.

Here's a picture of my front and back seat leather right now. Front seats are doing well, of course. Back seats....not so much.

phermes1

My front seats are so-so. I did a SEM job on them a few years ago and it didn't hold up to everyday wear. I have seat covers on them now. The top of the backseat is rotting. If/when I decide to restore the car, one of the first things I'll do is replace all the leather.
sc400slide - where did you get yours reupholstered? It looks really nice.

SC400slide

iTrader: (11)

Thnx. I'll be hard pressed to find matching leather for the back seat.

A place called Jaramillo Upholstery. Not including the cost of the leather material itself, it was $600 total for both front seats. They hand stitched both seats in a week. Jaramillo upholstery is a 2 man run small business. He doesn't do many jobs, but when he does them, they're really nice! He even came over to put the seats in! If ever you move to NM anytime, make sure to get your seats upholstered there.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

When I bought my car the front and rear seats had been recovered in vinyl upholstery but it was good quality for not being actual leather. Since then I sold my front seats for a pair of tan Supra leather seats with totally shot and ripped leather. Those will be redone probably next year. Well after that I will replace my perfectly good rear seat vinyl with real leather to bring it all back to what it used to be. Mechanical upgrades and fixes and other rarities have always taken priority.

A couple of weeks ago, however, I had the door arm rests and the center console lid recovered in full leather trim with a matching color code to the original interior tan (GL603 Ivory). Before I get to recovering my seats I will get new floor mats (not OEM but custom cut) and other interior bits replaced. One can ALWAYS spend $900 on getting custom leather upholstery.

I think it's important to remember that these cars once sold in the same price range as 90's BMW's and Mercedes. Any car that came with leather originally will cost some money to restore like new.

I was recommended a leather care product by my upholstery shop called Lexol. Two stages of it apparently. I'm going to start using it soon and see how that works out. In the past with oil residue on my black and tan leather car interiors I have tried using Meguiars carnuba wax to get the crud off from years of caking-- and surprisingly that really worked. Now, though, I think I'll stick with something designed to protect leather.

Chefao, I can see wear in your black interior but it looks VERY good for its age!

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

My driver seat looks like crap now. The back seats are mint and the passenger seat is in good shape. I'm going to get them redone next year.

I've noticed the leather on the newer SC's and other 95+ Lexus' in general seems a lot nicer than the crap I've seen on 92-94 SC's. The leather doesn't seem to hold up that well from all of the old SC's and LS' I've run into.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

It's interesting you say that, Kira. I've noticed the same thing about dashboards in these cars: early cars (or at least 92-94's have the same main dash fading issues that I have seen in pictures of early JZZ30 Soarer interiors. Later SC300/400 dashes (and as far as I've been able to tell late model Soarers as well) don't really have the same problem. I have a 1998 SC dashboard in storage back west that I will eventually install into my car and it's still unfaded versus my early dash.

I think Toyota improved both the home market and export versions of the car as soon as the first revision around 1994-1995 model years.

My folks still own a '99 LS400 with a tan interior and the leather still looks pretty good for its age, backing up what you've observed.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

Thanks for the input. I've noticed the same thing about the dashes as well. I had a black dash from a 95+ SC and it looked much better than any 92-94 SC dash I've seen locally other than my own.

That must be the case since it seems the 95+ Lexus I've seen with 200,000+ miles still have good looking leather that isn't torn to shreds. My friend had a 95 LS400 that had 175,000 miles on it and it looked way better than my 93 SC300 with 91,000 miles did. I take way better care of my leather and it still looks bad.

P.R.S.22

iTrader: (6)

This is probably the most active I have been on the forums in quite some time. I normally just sit back and listen to everyone give advice but lately I've been in the mood to share my knowledge with the newer group of SC owners on the boards lately.

Chefao - Your car would be a perfect candidate for a dye job on your front seats. What is that you ask? Its pretty much what others have said here already using SEM dye and re-dying worn out leather parts in the interior. Believe it or not this process is actually done to used cars in the big dealership lots (believe me I know...I work for a Nissan dealership and more specifically in the detail department).

We actually hire outside professionals to re-dye and touch up parts to used cars to make them look good for the lot and sell easier. Cracks like the ones you have in your SC can easily be fixed by these people and your seats will turn out brand new.

My personal SC had those same cracks in them and I did not want to re-upholster my leather since it would most likely not match. I had a professional upholster/dye expert in my local area with over 40 years experience do my front seats and this is how the turned out after he did mine:






The pictures you see here have been taken in the past several months and I have had this dye job in my car now for several years with zero issues (check the link to my progress thread for when I originally did this to my interior years ago).

I would recommend calling some upholstery shops and asking them if they do touch up dye jobs. It's cheaper than buying newer replacement leather and looks more OEM in the end.

Luxor

iTrader: (15)

If you wash your leather regularly and treat it with conditioner often, it can still look like this for years to come.

MrGoldfish

I don't know, I'm pretty happy with the leather in my 93' SC300. I take pretty good care of it, but as far as the dash it's perfect, no fading or wear whatsoever. The seats look like there may be a little grime in the creases though

MrGoldfish

Only real problem I have is on the drivers side, there's a small tear, but it's not the leather, it's the plastic material. Don't know how this happened in this particular area, never asked the previous owner

SC400slide

iTrader: (11)

Hey Goldfish, you might want to tear out the carpeting and give it a nice wash to get rid of the yellow tinting you have on it. It will make the SC look so much better!